We're Never Alone
by ColonKellyHigginsGoil304
Summary: Two options: stay with Sota and go to public high school, or go to Ouran and get an awesome education. Sakura wanted the former, but her twin brother had other plans for her. Read and Review? :D
1. Birth

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own any of these characters other than my own… which for a while are literally all mine anyways.

*I rated the story T because some chapters may get more graphic than others, and I will warn you ahead of time, but other than that it's clear sailing from here, no worries.

* * *

The room is bursting with energy and excitement. Doctors and nurses are flying around the room while a woman is secured on a hospital bed, screaming bloody murder and squeezing all feeling out of the man's hand next to her.

A single doctor sits at the foot of her bed, his head ducked under the covers, and nurses surround the red-faced mother giving birth to her second child. It was an unexpected pregnancy, but with high hopes, the family of three eagerly anticipated the birth of this child, and today is the day.

The man at the woman's side whispers soothing words into her ear and encourages her to keep pushing whenever she stops to take some quick, shallow breaths.

The woman is thinking to herself that it definitely didn't hurt this bad before, while the man is- coincidentally -thinking that he forgot it hurt this bad before, and readjusts his hand as physical demonstration for what he's thinks.

The doctor has said "Alright, one more push, it's almost here!" so many times that the woman feels the urge to reach over and rip the hair off the top of the man's head.

She groans in agony, and with all the strength she can muster, she pushes with a concrete plan in mind: if this kid doesn't get out of her right now, she is going to reach in and yank it out herself. With that, she finally felt a familiar feeling and heard the sound of something unearthly beautiful.

The newborn baby's abrupt cries broke into the room; it was the most beautiful and relieving noise the couple had ever heard in their lives. The mother finally relaxes her sore muscles and breathes a sigh of relief. Her baby is here.

"Let me see her." She smiles as she turns her sweat streaked head towards her husband. She hasn't noticed yet that, while her grip has loosened considerably, his has not. The doctor has been muttering words that the woman cannot make out, yet everyone else seems to be hearing him clearly.

"Minoru…?" The woman begins to frantically search the small room for the location of her screaming child.

It looks just fine as she watches the nurse scrubs off blood and whatever else is left on the child's skin. Usually after birth the baby is placed on the mother's abdomen to keep it warm and to dry it off close to the mother, so why are they taking her baby away? What's going on?

"Mrs. Yamada, I'm going to need you to lie back down for me…" the doctor begins softly, while two more nurses surround her and strip her abdomen bare. The woman wails out, demanding answers to the million questions running through her head, and panics when she realizes they are giving her… an ultrasound?

The primary nurse spreads the gel onto her exposed belly while, her assistant flicks on the mini television screen she rolled over moments before, as the doctor finishes, "You're having twins."

The room seems to be moving rapidly now, and the only thing the woman can hear is her husband's distant voice telling her, "Aimi, this is wonderful. Don't worry about a thing; we can make it through this. Just relax and w…." and she can hear her heart pumping blood loudly inside her ears.

Pains start shooting through her again, and quickly becomes a throbbing problem.

"The baby is ready for you to start pushing. Aimi, I'm going to need you to…"

No one can hear what the doctor says next, because right then, Aimi screams out in pain and anger as a sudden burst of energy courses through her and, in no time, the second child was out and crying for air.

The woman faints as nurses begin to cool her off with cold towels and fix the bed so it actually looks like a bed again. Minoru talks to his wife until she comes to, and his whole body fills with love and joy when her eyes flutter open and meet his, then cringe as she smiles up to him.

"How are they?" Aimi asks him softly and tiresome.

"We have a healthy daughter and son." He replies, and his heart flips when he sees her face light up at the sound of the babies' genders. She rests her head back on the pillow and closes her eyes, a faint smile plays at her lips as she waits for the nurses to bring over her children.

The nurses finish cleaning the second child, and, after picking up the first from the bed panel next to the rack of towels, bring them to either side of the mother's bedside. Minoru willingly steps back to let the nurse in closer to Aimi; he still continues to smile at her reassuringly.

Aimi finally tears her eyes away from the man and looks at the nurse holding one of her beautiful children. She turns her head to the right to see her second child, and almost has a heart attack.

Minoru watches her curiously as his wife's head shoots back and forth in between the babies, who are wrapped in white towels and quietly recovering. She turns her eyes onto him now and asks him a question that he wasn't expecting at all:

"Which one is which?"

* * *

A/N: So this is going to be (hopefully) a story different from others. There is a romance - obviously because it says so in my story description - but it's one that will have to grow slowly and have a big story plot behind it. So, what are you all thinking out there? Sparked your curiosity? Intrigued your mind, perhaps? Feedback would be AWESOME if anyone wouldn't mind taking about twenty seconds out of their time to write me a little something (anything) because it's beneficial to both you, the reader, and myself, the writer. :)

Also, THANKS TO ENIGMATICROSE4 FOR BEING SUCH A WONDERFUL BETA TO ME! I owe you BIG time.


	2. Introductions

**Disclaimer:**I do not own any of the Ouran Host Club characters, only my own.

Enjoy!

* * *

A young girl sits at home, lazily looking about her as her head leans on the side of the kotatsu. She is not in a happy mood, and refuses to do anything she should be doing. She realizes this, but remains stubborn and unreasonable. Her conscience is nagging at her:

_I should really do my homework, that report is due Monday and I haven't even started it. Why do we need to know the International System of Units; that's only for Americans! It's not like any of us are going to America anytime soon, I'm sure not. This report is stupid; I shouldn't have to do it. It's my birthday weekend too... this sucks!_

She jumps at her unusually blunt and bad-tempered thoughts. She is not use to cursing- she actually finds it repulsing -but today has just been so awful and dreary, her mind just let it slip.

It gives her a little rush, realizing she can say awful things in her head and no one else will know it. It makes her feel rebellious and more mature than being a recently turned twelve year old.

Sitting up now, she looks around her living room and notices her surroundings: various painted works of art hung on the walls, a door leading into the kitchen where, on the table, were recently open presents and a balloon that read "12!", the beginnings of a hallways, a television set with the remote centimeters from falling off the top, and then the kotatsu itself, which still had dishes from lunch on top.

A window behind her reveals that it is well into winter, because the world outside is completely covered in a thick sheet of white snow and abnormally large balls of fluff continue to fall this way and that. A distant noise tells the girl that her Auntie is upstairs cleaning.

_Probably cleaning the nursery... _

Her head flops back down on her arms as she leans on the small table again. Her legs are toasty warm under the blanket, but she wishes she had one to keep her waist-up warm as well.

Still, she feels cold on the inside and can't shake the feeling of dread that carries throughout her being… her mother and father are coming home… and bringing her new baby sister along with them.

She hasn't heard from them since Mama's water broke two days ago. Auntie received a call, a couple hours after they had left for the hospital, with news that the baby was going to be out soon, and things were looking good for her sister, the girl's mother.

Auntie then proceeded to gush to the birthday girl over the excitement of the situation and flung her around as she danced for joy.

After she sat down from exhilaration overload, she moved in close to the girl named "Kana" and said that if all went well, her parents should be coming home in only a couple of days. And when they came home, she would have a baby sister to hold and take care of with her Mama.

Sure enough, they received a call today from a nurse, telling them, along with an enthusiastic "congratulation," that Kana's mother was being discharged in good health and to expect them within the next couple of hours.

_In the next couple of hours, that little brat will be in my home._

_I hate her…_

The family wasn't expecting another child in the least. She just popped, no, grew out of the blue, which didn't sit well with Kana. The order in her family, she felt, had been disrupted.

_I'm their only little girl…_

Kana would state her opinion on the child, that she didn't want the baby to come, but her Mama and Dad would simply pat her on the head and respond with phrases, such as: "Don't worry, baby, it will be alright," and, "She will be a blessed addition into our family, you'll see," and of course, "Aren't you excited to be an older sister? She will probably look just as beautiful as you!"

_I can't stand their smiles. Over this past year, all they could think about was this little… abomination... and obsessing about her arrival._

_It's like they wouldn't listen to me at all…_

Kana was flabbergasted at the lack of understanding she received. So what could she do to get her point across? Well, firstly, she sulked, but that only got her scornful looks from her parents.

Then she tried ignoring them, but that made them badger her into saying something nice about the baby when the topic was brought up.

Finally, after months of enduring them, she figured out that the least painful method of getting through their raves was by simply going along with it.

_They are now convinced I have accepted it…_

_Maybe I'm simply being a child, selfish and attention craving, but I'm mature enough to know exactly how I'm acting, right? I'm older, nearly an adult now. Twelve is an important age in a girl's life._

From outside, Kana hears the sound of crunching snow and the unmistakable sound of a car engine dying in their driveway.

Her head jerks up, but not before she feels dizzy and can't open her eyes. She realizes then she has dozed off for a bit.

"Is that them? They can't be home this early!" An overly excited Auntie cries as she storms down the stairs, fashioning an ugly disheveled look, with cleaning supplies in one hand and a pink blanket in the other; Kana chuckles to herself, she was right about the cleaning after all.

"Don't just sit there, Kana, get the door for them!" Auntie gives Kana a frustrated look, as she continues to sit in the same spot on the floor.

She races into the kitchen while Kana rolls her eyes dramatically and starts to move into a standing position. Her legs feel like rubber and she can barely stand.

_This is the PERFECT time for them to fall asleep_.

No, that was not sarcasm. Kana takes her time stretching out her legs, and getting into a reasonably strong standing position, even though two pairs of footsteps can be heard outside the door.

"What are you waiting for?" cries Auntie, daggers shooting out of her eyes in Kana's direction.

"My legs fell asleep, how do you expect me to walk if I can't feel them?" Kana argues back.

Auntie gives her an eye roll now and, in a flash, flies to the door, flicks open the lock, and throws back the door for the two tall shadowy figures that waited just beyond it.

From where Kana is standing, the shadows seem to be connected, since one is leaning on the other for support, while bundles of bags and blankets fill their arms. Auntie cries out in utter delight and throws her arms around one figure, minding the content in its arms, and does the same for the other.

After she relieves some of the baggage from them, she scurries into any direction with a clear space to throw down said materials, which lets the light from above the shadows finally spray over them.

Kana can see her Mama on the right side, leaning on her Dad, with a weak, but wide smile on her face as she watches her sister race about like a mother taking care of her children. Mama is grateful to her older sister, and she feels a new sense of warmth spread around in her empty stomach, literally.

Dad is carrying a bundle himself, even though Kana specifically remembers not packing so many blankets into the "baby bag".

Auntie is talking nonsense to herself mostly, but directs some questions to Mama or Dad. She ends up answering them aloud herself anyways, then proceeds on in her endless stream of words.

Kana standing just outside of the entryway, staring at the three adults in front of her; none of them acknowledge her presence in the least. All she can see them doing is looking between each other and at the pair of arms stretched out in front of them.

After Auntie ushers the couple inside more, she closes the door behind them and finally stops to look at it.

_Her._

"Beautiful… I just can't believe it…" whispers Auntie, whose back now faces Kana.

_Of course she's beautiful, foolish woman, she's a baby…_

Aimi's eyes glow from the appraisal from her sister, but at that moment, she looks up to see Kana watching her.

Her expression is one she has never seen before. It is a look of hatred and hurting, among other overwhelming emotions lurking behind her eyes.

Aimi had long realized that Kana didn't like the thought of competing for her attention with a baby, but she always hoped that Kana would change her mind once she saw the miracle she now holds in her arms. After all, Kana must know she loves her no matter what.

Even so, the expression on her daughters face… it makes Aimi want to hold her eldest daughter and cry for her, and apologize to her. But apologize for what? What did she have to be sorry for?

Kana stares at her mother, her mind raging with so many emotions that she can barely see straight, but with one look, she can tell her mother senses what she's feeling. Something flashes behind her mother's eyes and, for a moment, it looked like…

_Pain?_

A split second after, she is smiling at Kana again and walking towards her slowly. Kana's body stiffens on reflex and eyes are subconsciously fixated on the bright pink bundle in her Mama's arms.

It is becoming hard for Kana to breathe, and all she can seem to do is hold her breath as Aimi kneels down before her.

"Kana, I want to introduce you to someone who has been looking forward to meeting you for a long time." Kana's mother purrs. Her eyes are still locked on the breathing blanket before her; Aimi's hand is slowly moving to uncover the face underneath.

"Kana, I want you to meet your baby sist…"

She turns away from her mother, gaining control of her eyes again. She, unfortunately, cannot control the tears that start gushing out of them, and it seems the rest of her body has yet to respond to wiping them away either.

This time though, she knows she glimpses pain in Mama's eyes, as her hand is still suspended over the fold of the blanket.

Aimi's head bows from defeat and the overwhelming sadness gnawing in the pit of her stomach, but her hand creeps down anyways and, at last, reveals it.

_The baby. Her_.

Without a word, Aimi rises and walks to the stairway, and ascends without a second glance to anyone. Her footsteps ring in the stale air as she climbs, and fades until you can just hear a door close lightly at the beginning of the hallway up-top.

Kana feels Dad's and Auntie's eyes deadlocked on her, burning into the side of her turned face, but she continues to look away, focusing on the patterns on the carpet.

Auntie gives her sister's husband, Minoru, a look before she ascends after Aimi, not looking at Kana as she passes her.

It is finally just Minoru and Kana, the father and his daughter; bodies facing, but eyes not meeting. The time stretches for eternity as they wait for one of them to speak, and Kana's heart sinks deeper as her father only gazes at her, with a look she cannot see nor tell.

"Kana…" He breathes quietly, almost to the point where Kana almost misses hearing it.

She looks up out of habit and sees he has now averted his eyes to the throw rug carpet as well.

She feels like sobbing out loud, instead of holding it in silently and only allowing the tears on her face to express her feelings for her.

Her legs move automatically towards him, and she speaks without really knowing what she's saying,

"Can I get those from you?"

Her hand stretch out towards the bright blue blankets Minoru has been holding the whole time.

His blue eyes jerk up to Kana's, and in the end, she can't even explain the emotions she sees swarming behind them. Her body becomes paralyzed once more, her arm still outstretched, and slightly shaking from the daggers she just got hit with from Minoru's eyes.

He continues to look at Kana,

"Kana… when did you learn to be so selfish?" Kana stops breathing as she listens to his tired voice.

"We have discussed all of this over the past nine months and your mother… your mother has worked so hard to make you comfortable with the idea of a new person in our family, our lives…"

Minoru's body tenses up and begins to shake slightly from his inner rage build up.

"Yet, even though you should be old enough to understand that this has been a struggle for us all, in other ways then your own, you insist on holding onto the past and refusing to accept these accid… these blessings in our homes and hearts."

"Dad…"

"You're a twelve year old girl. You're becoming a young lady, and if you want us to treat you like a mature young lady, you need to start acting the part, Kana."

"Daddy, I don't…"

"You don't what?" He snaps, his eyes now down to two emotions: pain and rage.

"I don't understand! What _blessings_? I've got a kid sister, what else did I get?" Minoru stares at his daughter with a stoned face, but Kana can tell she just threw him off a little.

"What else am I supposed to be expecting? What other blessing did we get?" Her arm has fallen to her side at this point and she begins taking baby-steps forward again. Her mind is screaming at her not to, but she seems to be on autopilot and cannot control herself.

Kana watches as her father's face breaks from the stone mask it was in mere seconds ago, and he starts to… laugh?

"What is so funny?" Kana is enraged now, what could possibly be so funny that made him stop his rant?

Minoru kneels down, like Aimi did moments before, and in his arms was a little baby all wrapped up.

Minoru looks upon his daughter's face with amusement now as she stares in total confusion to the being in front of her.

"Kana, your mother had twins. This is your baby brother, Sota."

Kana's jaw drops down to the floor, and she almost has to physically hold it closed she is so shocked.

"Can I hold him?" She asks, already prepared to take her brother from his arms.

"Not now, Pumpkin. He has to go rest with Sakura now. It's been quite an eventful couple of days, if you can believe it."

_Sakura?..._

Kana feels disappointed that she couldn't hold him, but remains completely stunned as she watches her Dad walk towards the steps and staring at the baby in his arms. Racing after, she follows Minoru while they ascend the stairs up into the hallway, and down to the room next to him and Aimi.

Kana quickly jumps ahead to open the door for him, and he walks ahead of her, into the room, which already contains Aimi, Auntie, and the baby.

Aimi has been crying, but when she seeing her husband, she wipes her face with her shirt sleeve and stand up with the baby in her arms.

He approaches her and stands in front of her for a moment before he makes his hand free and wipes away the remaining tears. She continues to look into his eyes as a smile spreads across her face.

They stand side-by-side next to the crib, originally intended only for the little girl, and place both babies into it.

They sleep soundlessly next to each other, and have exactly the same sleeping face too.

The grown-ups gather around and watch without noticing Kana as she close the door softly and begin the walk to her room at the end of the hall.

_

* * *

_

_So the baby's name is Sakura… And she gets a twin brother named Sota too…_

Kana had fallen in love with Sota on-sight, and now wishes nothing more than to hold him and play with him,

_But Sakura is the problem behind all of this, and I won't have anything to do with that._

Her mind is made up, and all she wants now is to sleep and hope it's all a dream.

* * *

A/N: Hey there, readers! What do you guys think so far? Introducing Kana, the eldest child in the family by twelve years. A bit of drama coming from her, but she is still young; maybe she will grow up and mature, and see what the problem is and what it is not. Reviews are welcome, criticisms and "like comments" alike. Please watch out for chapter three!

Also, Thanks again to my beta reader for reviewing this AGAIN for me. :)


	3. The Stupid Weather Man

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Ouran characters. I only wish I can.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Mama! Mama!" Cries two children all dressed up in matching play clothes.

A woman in her mid thirties looks up from a book surprised, but a smile spreads across her face as she watches her two children come bounding towards her.

They screech to a halt in front of their mother, who is currently sitting on the floor, panting and trying to catch their breaths. Even though she is sitting, the children are just about the same height as she is.

"Alright, what are you two rascals up to today?" Their mother, Aimi, asks suspiciously.

"Mama, we're goin' to build a sandcastle today!" The little boy whines.

"And you said you would help us." The girl by his side adds.

"Remember?" They say in unison, looking at Aimi with their same blue eye color.

Aimi laughs as she picks her bookmarker up from the table and places it into the crease between the pages. She realizes will never finish this book.

"I remember." She continues to smile as she ruffles the twins' hair.

The twins look at her through their black locks of hair, their icy blue eyes shining through them, and bright smiles light up their faces, making Aimi smile in return, but sympathetically.

"I'm sorry, you two, but the weather man said it was probably going to rain this afternoon, so no sandcastles today."

"Awwuh!" The twins pout, tears forming in their doe eyes as they stare at their mother.

Sakura crosses her arms and says:

"I hate the weatherman, he always makes it rain when we wanna do something fun!"

Sota adds in:

"Yeah, and now we'll have to wait _another_ week for the sand to dry!"

The twins, defeated, walk away together, muttering profanities about the weatherman foiling their plans yet again.

Even as they speak, the windows around begin to lose the light stream that shown through only minutes ago. A big storm is heading their way.

"Why don't you two find something _quiet_ to do until I make dinner? Maybe in your room?" Aimi calls to them as they reach the front of the stairs.

Sakura and Sota both pause, each have a foot hovering over the first step. Aimi doesn't see the look they exchange between each other, but after a couple beats, they slowly turn their heads, a certain spark ignite in their eyes, as they say in unison,

"Sure, Mom, we can find something quiet to do in our room."

Aimi freezes as a tingle of fear flashes through her mind; sometimes her children can really give her nerves a jumpstart.

She continues to sit there, stunned, as her identical children turn back around and race up the stairs, and she sits there until she hears the faint sound of their door closing.

Aimi sighs, she knows she'll have to go up and watch them now, or else they will end up breaking something valuable, like another one of her lamps…

She starts to move to get up, but then her eye catches the aqua blue covering of the books she's been reading and pauses.

_I know I should go make sure Sakura and Sota are doing something _simple _and productive… but I do want to know if she follows him onto the train…_

Curiosity gets the best of Aimi as she hungrily snatches open the book, letting the bookmarker flutter onto the floor, and dives back into the plot of the story, not noticing the cluttering noises coming from the other half of the house; the half containing the plotting twins.

* * *

_Muddy water sputters from Kiki's mouth as she tries to breath in the much needed oxygen. Arms previously holding her lie her on the sandy banks just off of the canal, and the body once at her back moves to the side, casting a shadow over her body. Instinctively, she jerks up, spitting the remaining water from her lungs. The man wraps his arms around her again in an embrace, her head leaning on his shoulder for support. When she opens her eyes, she cries silently as the bus she was just on, the bus with the kind people that she would consider friends, the bus that held what was left in her life, was erect in the water, slowly becoming submerged with each passing second and with each passing tear…_

Aimi is so engrossed in the book that if her oldest daughter, Kana, hadn't have slammed the door behind her at that moment, she would have continued on reading, completely oblivious of the time.

"Mom, I'm home!" Kana calls, not seeing her mother only a few feet away from herself.

Kana throws her backpack down, shrugs her water drenched coat off and hangs it on a hook next to the door, and swipes her bag up again while making her way towards the kitchen.

Kana opens up the refrigerator door and sticks her head inside looking for a treat to munch on.

Aimi is completely confused. Kana can't be home this soon; she should still be at school!

"Kana, honey, what are you doing home? Did you get out early today?"

Kana looks over the fridge door with an annoyed expression on her face.

"No, Mom, it's six o'clock. I always come home at six. Where did all the jell-o cups go?" Kana asks, turning her attention back to the refrigerator.

Aimi's head jerks to the clock over her head and it, indeed, reads 6:00p.m. Where did the afternoon go?

Looking down at her book, she, for the first time, notices the dwindling pages left in the book when moments (apparently hours now) before she was only twenty pages in. Oops…

Coming back to the present, she snatches up her bookmarker for the second time today and marks her spot again. Aimi uncrosses her legs and slowly makes her way to the kitchen.

"Mom, where did my jell-o cups go?" Kana whines now, moving the contents inside the fridge frantically in an attempt to find her desired red treat.

"I'm not sure, honey, maybe you finished them all?"

Kana huffs in protest as she closes the door reluctantly. She mumbles to herself as she swings her bag higher on her shoulder and reaches for an apple.

"Whatever, I'm going to my room. When's dinner?"

Aimi physically smacks her head with the palm of her hand. She forgot about dinner!

"Oh, shoot, I completely forgot! And your father will be home soon, won't he?" Kana looks at Aimi in horror, how could she forget to make _dinner_?

Thinking fast, Aimi starts to push Kana towards the stairs while instructing,

"Well, I'll just whip something up, so expect dinner in half an hour. Could you do me a favor and just stick your head in the twin's room and let them know for me? And while you're at it, maybe see what they've been up to; I haven't checked in on them lately and you know five year olds! They'll probably have a mess or two to clean up so make sure they do that as well…"

Not only does Kana not like the physical pushing from her mother, but she hates it when she has to check up on the twins and clean up their messes.

Kana protests loudly, but Aimi has already given her a final shove towards the stairs and is now scavenging through cupboards for an idea on dinner.

Aimi hears Kana exaggerate another "huff" as she ascends the steps, but she doesn't bother saying anything at the moment, all she is concentrating on is finding the ramen noodles before her husband gets home and before the kids get agitated.

Aimi finds the noodles at last and frantically fills a pot up to boil the water. Minutes of rushing around to make the food and grabbing supplies to set the table cause Aimi to unknowingly become short breathed and exhausted, but again, she doesn't notice.

"MOM!" Aimi hears the shrieking of her name, undoubtedly coming from her eldest child, and her pace slows down as she grunts a reply of acknowledgement.

Footsteps echo down the stairway until Kana stands under the arch looking like she's about to either punch a wall or break down laughing. Either way, Aimi completely stops now as Kana says,

"You need to see this…"

Aimi drops the bag of noodles into the pot and races up the stairs on Kana's heels until they reach the twin's door, which is currently closed. Aimi now notices that her feet are wet and muddy.

_This isn't good…_

Kana takes the liberty of opening the door for her mother, and actually almost does break out laughing when she sees the look that comes over her face.

Aimi's jaw drops as she looks at her two children, dressed in their rain ponchos, covered head to foot in mud and dripping wet. Surrounding them is a mud castle, elaborately done and bigger than their own bed. They are laughing and playing as they make the finishing touch to their masterpiece, a tower taller than they are.

A gasp of sheer horror breaks the twin's concentration and drags them back to where they actually are. Then they see their mother, jaw to the floor, one hand clutching her apron and one trying to cover her mouth.

"We were very quiet, weren't we, Mama?" The twins ask together, smiling symmetrically.

This time, Kana does burst out laughing while Aimi feels like she's about to faint this very instant.

"But, but, how did you do this?" Aimi finally cries out. This twins crawl through the castle's drawbridge and stand just outside it.

"Well, first, we came up here and made room on the floor, and then we found the recycling and grabbed as many newspapers as we could." Sakura starts out matter-of-factly.

"Then we got our boots and coat out of the closet and went into the back yard right before the rain started…"

"Wait a minute; I was sitting by the closet, why didn't I see you?" Aimi interjects utterly confused and suspicious.

"Well, we asked if it was okay if we could get some sand, and you mumbled and waved your hand at us, so we assumed it was okay." Sakura answers.

As she does, Aimi does recall them asking her something and she didn't really pay attention, just assumed they wanted a snack or something.

"Anyways…" Sota and Sakura say together.

"We kept going back and forth with the pals of sand, even though it started to rain a little, but rain never hurt anyone, and we're not scared of no thunder!" Sota says proudly. Kana rolls her eyes and starts to circle the castle.

"When we finally got the sand up here, we got a hairdryer from the bathroom…" Kana gasps, "… and used it to start drying the sand. Then we got the jell-o from downstairs and used the cups to make little blocks for the top of the wall!" Sakura explains. Both she and Sota motion to the wall and there sat little blocks of sand in the shape of a jell-o cup.

If you look close enough, you can probably see Kana's head steaming as she picks up her mud covered hair dryer and the last of her jell-o cups from the floor.

Downstairs, a "beeping" noise sounds and Aimi jumps into the air in alarm.

"AAHH! The noodles!" Torn, Aimi takes small steps between the kitchen and her dirty children, until she finally breaks into a run for the door, yelling to Kana,

"Clean them up! I'll be right back!"

Enraged, and with a look of pure shock and horror plastered on her face, Kana yells after Aimi hopelessly,

"What? You're making _me_ clean them up? UUGHH this is _so_ not my problem! I…" but her mother is already gone; she is downstairs at the stove, trying to save as much of their dinner as she can.

There is a long period of time where Kana simply stands there, glaring at the door like it was the one who left her to complete the impossible task of cleaning up her little brother and sister… which makes the glare even scarier.

Sota and Sakura don't totally understand what that is about, but they do understand what the word "clean" means, so they both go scrambling back into their palace, hiding from their sister and her face of many scary expressions.

Snapping out of her trance, Kana whips her precious empty jell-o cups at the wastebasket, missing it by inches, and tosses the hairdryer onto a pile of clothes near the door.

Sota and Sakura cower under their rain coats, giggling as they hear Kana walking around their castle with no hopes of crawling in after them.

"Alright, you two, get out of there before I drag you out." Kana threatens with poison in her words.

"Yeah? And how are you going to do that?" Sakura pops her head up.

"You're too big to get in, so I guess you'll just have to leave us." Sota springs up next to his sister, both shooing Kana away with the wave of their little hands

"Oh I would _love_ to leave you…" Kana mutters to herself; the twins try to suppress their giggling.

"KANA! Did you get the kids in the B-A-T-H yet?" A cry comes from downstairs, which makes Kana groan loudly in disgust.

"Well what do you want me to do, Ma? They're hiding in their f… stupid castle thing!" Kana yells back, but receives no reply.

"Well kiddies," Kana smirks, her bangs shielding her eyes from the twins, "I guess I'll have to get you out one way or another, huh?"

Looking on the scene, the next couple moments will show Kana springing at the wide-eyed twins who duck just in time before Kana scrambles for them, completely tearing down the sand wall. A large cloud of sand encircle the three siblings, and all you hear is screams, loud banging noises, and that doesn't include…

"GET OVER HERE!"

"YOU RUINED OUR CASTLE!... THE DRAGON IS ESCAPING!"

"GAH! I have sand in my eye…. YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"

"OH NO, IT'S HERE! RUN!"

When the cloud disappears, all that can be seen is Kana, dirt-faced and heaving heavily (breathing fire?), clutching the backs of Sakura's and Sota's rain-jackets, crying over their destroyed castle.

Kana drags them backwards into the hall and into the bathroom across the way; neither are helping her in the least, just sobbing into their clenched fists.

Bath water is drawn in the tub as Kana starts to strip Sota from his muddy clothing, Sakura sitting silently on the floor next to him.

"I don't wanna take no bath, big sister!" Sota whines as Kana finally manages to peel off his wet and, now murky colored green, tee shirt.

"Well, you should have thought of that before you decided to play in mud, huh?" Kana coaxes, but Sota sees amusement in her eyes as she preoccupies herself with getting suds into the tub. He smiles bright.

Sakura looks up and says to Kana,

"Are you going to help me too?"

Kana's face darkens slightly as she pulls her attention back to Sota. She doesn't want to help her do anything.

"Why don't you start taking your own baths, Sakura? Aren't you a little old for taking baths with Sota?" Kana says coolly.

Sakura bends her head as Kana gets Sota in the bath tub. She scrubs her own arms to get access mud streaks off before she grabs the bottle of shampoo from the shelf.

Sakura, defeated, starts to undress herself, sniffling as she goes, and Kana tells her to stop whining and be quiet. Sota sits in the water, watching the water swirl with new neutral color, trying not to catch their eyes.

"Close your eyes, Sota, you don't want to get soap in them." Kana commands right before she pours the gel into her outstretched hand.

"No."

Kana pauses, a drop of gel hangs from the bottle in suspense. Sota reaches for the bottle, which is twice as big as his own hands, takes it, and pours a large portion of it onto his own head.

"Sakura, you have to wash too, or else Daddy won't read to us tonight." Sota says, looking at his identical sister.

Sakura's eyes bright up instantly as she climbs into the tub next to her brother. Sota takes some of the shampoo from his own head and starts massaging it onto his sister's head, which makes the two of them giggle and splash around.

Kana feels pride for Sota; he is such a gentleman, even if it is directed to Sakura.

She leaves the bathroom in pursuit of her own, but not before grabbing her hair dryer from the other bedroom. There, she takes a bath, herself, drowning out the sounds of Sota and Sakura running down the stair, with the clean pajamas on, to greet their father, and tell him the tales of their adventures in the fairy castle they created.

* * *

A/N: Hello fellow readers! Sorry I've been away for so long. It was a mixture of not enough time on my hands to write, and a dash of writer's block. I hope you enjoyed this! I'm going to have a super short chapter coming out soon, and it is short because, again, I have little time at the moment to write anything big. I have a question that I would love you to answer, either by message or review (I love reviews… just saying) but I have at least three more chapter before Ouran enters the story, but I want to know if you think you've heard enough of the twin's back story and want to jump into Ouran already. Let me know soon!

Also, thank you to my marvelous beta reader. I left you hanging, and I'm sorry. Have a cookie! You've earned it.


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